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Debate: Is it possible for man to live a moral life without religion? (view source)
Revision as of 02:12, February 20, 2009
, 02:12, February 20, 2009→No, it is not possible
:Those are interesting thoughts, but let me put an alternate premise forward. Most religions tend to have common values, like prohibitions against murder, stealing, deceit, etc. Given how wildly different some faiths can be, monotheism vs. pantheism for one example, isn't it more likely that man is inclined to develop moral codes that grow in sophistication along with their societies, and that these common, human-centric values are superimposed on different faiths rather than different faiths coincidentally arriving at the same moral codes? --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 20:32, 19 February 2009 (EST)
:Those are interesting thoughts, but let me put an alternate premise forward. Most religions tend to have common values, like prohibitions against murder, stealing, deceit, etc. Given how wildly different some faiths can be, monotheism vs. pantheism for one example, isn't it more likely that man is inclined to develop moral codes that grow in sophistication along with their societies, and that these common, human-centric values are superimposed on different faiths rather than different faiths coincidentally arriving at the same moral codes? --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 20:32, 19 February 2009 (EST)
::I would suggest that such a hypothesis is at least partially testable, thus:
:::1. Is there historical evidence of a civilization where concepts of morality and justice developed in the absence of religion, or before religion?
:::2. Is there evidence that a civilization can maintain concepts of justice and morality in the long term in the absence of religion?
:::To the best of my knowledge, no such evidence exists. Moreover, in the absence of God, I would want to know ''why'' those moral codes seem to be relatively universal. I think that you have to really strain credulity to claim that they're all due to biological imperatives. --[[User:Benp|Benp]] 21:12, 19 February 2009 (EST)